WARRIORS NOTEBOOK / Coach wants 'break' points

Brad Weinstein

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, November 13, 2004

Photo: Lance Murphey

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Golden State Warriors' Andris Biedrins of Latvia, left, fights for a loose ball against Memphis Grizzlies' Stromile Swift, center, and Jake Tsakalidis of Greece during the second half on Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The Grizzlies defeated the Warriors 96-67. (AP Photo/Lance Murphey) less

Golden State Warriors' Andris Biedrins of Latvia, left, fights for a loose ball against Memphis Grizzlies' Stromile Swift, center, and Jake Tsakalidis of Greece during the second half on Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 ... more

Photo: Lance Murphey

WARRIORS NOTEBOOK / Coach wants 'break' points

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2004-11-13 04:00:00 PDT Memphis -- Nearly every Warriors defensive rebound Friday was followed with a plea from coach Mike Montgomery or one of his assistants to push the ball.

Montgomery is stressing early offense at every opportunity, from practices to video sessions to timeout huddles. The Warriors are generating so little in the half court that they need more scoring chances before the defense gets set.

"I do think we have to run the floor better," Montgomery said. "We have to get out and force the other team to have to defend us on the move and see if that can't open some things up and get us some easy baskets.

"Right now, we're a jump-shooting team, and that's hard. It's great if everyone is shooting well. But if you're not, and you really can't go inside and establish and you're not getting stuff off the break, that makes it difficult."

The Warriors were credited with eight fastbreak points compared with 22 for the Grizzlies.

For starters: Point guard Derek Fisher started his third consecutive game, the last two with opening-night starter Speedy Claxton healthy. That the two have shared the role is consistent with Montgomery's belief that both are capable of starting.

As for the rest of the lineup, Montgomery said before the game that he had no plans to change the mix despite the Warriors' penchant for starting slowly.

"If there were a short-term fix that I felt we could use to get us a win, I would do it," Montgomery said. "But I don't know that that's the answer in terms of any one guy."

The Warriors scored 15 first-quarter points Friday in a 96-67 loss. Their first-quarter output in the previous five games: 16, 14, 15, 33 and 12.

Briefly: The Grizzlies placed starting small forward James Posey (sprained left foot) on the injured list before the game and activated forward Ryan Humphrey. Shane Battier replaced Posey in the starting lineup and matched up with former Duke teammate Mike Dunleavy. ... Former Warriors forward Brian Cardinal had four points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. ... Warriors power forward Andris Biedrins' layup with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter was his first career basket.